#dreamer

At the beginning of this year, in January, you repeated a campaign-long vow to make the already great United States of America “great again.” You swore to work together with the American people to progress the nation into an era of prosperity and triumph, and that all of us are equal regardless of race and social background–that this nation belonged to all of us. You promised to put “America first” in the eyes of the world, and vowed to keep the people’s interests at heart with this statement.

In the almost eleven months since being sworn into office, the dismantling and rushed actions taken by you, your cabinet, and your Congress have shown to be contradictory to all that is written above, and are seemingly beneficial to only the few individual and corporate entities that are the wealthiest in the nation. And the list, while still growing, is decently decorated–swearing in the hilariously unqualified Betsey DeVos to head an already fractured education system; justifying the Nazis of Charlottseville, SC, responsible for the deaths and injuries of many, as “very nice people”; pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, one that aims to alleviate the oncoming dangers of a rapidly changing climate, even though natural disasters such as the California wildfires and Hurricane Harvey continue to mount in destructive tendencies; endorsing Roy Moore, a convicted sexual predator, for the Senate seat in Alabama to further the interests of the GOP; and, today, repealing the Net Neutrality rulings that allow for access to an open Internet without having to charge for different websites or having to block sites altogether. Again, there are many others, yet these events have proven to be the most monumental of your short tenure.

The worst thing about all of this, however, is that all of these events and rulings share this one commonality: these were not decided upon or enacted because there was an issue that could be amended with the previous form of the ruling or the seats, but, rather, these roads were taken out of spite toward the previous presidency and the opposing party which you and your own party members loathe without any intention to reconcile and work together. There are people who act as such in said opposing party, yes, and there have certainly been scandals committed by the Democrats that warrant anger and distrust, but the behavior and actions displayed by the Trump Republican Party have been an astounding display of debauchery and cruelty. All that has been accomplished under your presidency in the past year seemingly benefits only you and those closest to you, leaving the rest of the nation in a state of fear and uncertainty–wondering if they’ll have money and resources to stay afloat in the workforce, have a decent education for their children, or even if they’ll survive in this country (see: the Dreamers and all graduate students everywhere). And, as of today, the American citizen can now wonder if they’ll have an affordable or accessible internet to utilize for information and communication. It seems almost as though the right to free speech, press, and anything of the like will only be limited to those things that the head of the Interconnected Network of Networks deems suitable based upon their views and desires, and not in the best interests of the common citizen.

Leaders of the free world and representatives of the free people should put the needs and concerns of the many before the needs of the few. Based upon everything written here, as well as a plethora of careless acts of cruelty and selfishness, it seems now more than ever that all that you and your followers have done are more in line with the interests of yourselves and anyone who will say “yes” to you. As a regular citizen of the United States, I implore you and/or your party members to begin doing things that will benefit the nation as a whole in some way. Otherwise, if you still continue to recklessly create and throw away things out of spite for some individual or group, I and millions of others will incessantly call upon you to step down from the mantle of leadership and allow someone of greater character to steer the direction of this land toward a unified and sustainable future.